Wow, You're a Life-Saver! Part II

Repetition is the Essence of Pedagogy

In the last column, we focused our attention on five financial tools of engagement that life-savers use to not only thwart monetary self-sabotage, but also hone proactive, capital accumulating practices:

1. Life-Savers carry calculators

2. Life-Savers carry big bills.

3. Life-Savers carry business cards.

4. Life-Savers carry pen and notepad.

5. Life-Savers carry chips on their shoulders. 

Practice with Principle Makes Perfect

Life-saving is not just about tools and practical tips. Life-saving is a philosophy and way of life based on principles of personal accountability, delayed gratification, balance, single-mindedness, and creativity. In order to practice the habits of life-savers, it is crucial to first internalize their underlying philosophies. 

Life-Savers do not hate, they appreciate (literally).

Saving money would be easy if the products and services that corporate masterminds introduce and push had no style, added little convenience to life, and did not cater to human vanity. But they do! Sitting on a $4,000 leather couch imported from Italy may evoke the feeling of being ensconced in velvet, silk, satin, and other materials soft and buttery to the touch. Navigating the curves and turns of a windy road with ease in a $40,000 luxury car also elicits intense sensations that range from excitement and peace to invincibility and control.  Similarly, purchasing trendy clothing, designer shoes, and lavish accessories stroke the human psyche's craving for immediate gratification, want of recognition, and desire for (perceived) superiority.

Life-savers are realists and do not disparage the allure, aesthetic, and appeal of these type of items. What life-savers as realists clearly understand, however,  is that these items depreciate (often exponentially) after years of wear-and-tear, once driven off the showroom floor, and if not taken care of. Instead, life-savers buy items that conserve their value and appreciate in 

worth : index funds, mutual funds, 401ks, continuing education courses, commercial and residential properties, copyrights, and art and leave fantasies of the acquisition of excessive material trappings for fairy tales. 

Life-Savers  prefer inconspicuous consumption over conspicuous consumption. 

The motivation behind conspicuous consumption is the want to impress others and convey an elevated socioeconomic--whether true or not. The purchase of visually stimulating items such cars, clothes, mansions, yachts, country-club memberships, and electronics project and promote this image.

Conversely, inconspicuous consumption gives the impression that one is of low or moderate means and status. Life-savers thrive on this perception. It not only eliminates the jealousy and envy that may accompany the flaunting one's good fortune, but it also minimizes risk for robbery and injury. In other words, subscribing to a philosophy of inconspicuous consumption allows life-savers to build wealth through high-income earning, low attention-grabbing assets (i.e. land, stock, bonds, leases) while maintaining their financial privacy and anonymity.

Life-Savers rebel with a cause.  

Most of America is financially illiterate and financially reactionary. This makes those that are fiscally savvy and proactive in wealth accumulation stand out and stand alone. They live below their means, differentiate between wants and needs, safeguard against unnecessary debt, protect their credit scores, create emergency funds, take advantage of tax-shelter options such as tax-deferred annuities (TDA), individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and other  long-term economic planning. 

Knowledge and insight garnered through study and practice comfort life-savers as they  encounter the glaring manifestations of financial ignorance-- disdain, suspicion, exclusion, and mockery from chronic spendthrifts--while on their long and often lonely journeys toward financial security and prosperity. 

Life-savers prepare for the worse, hoping for the best. 

Not everything goes according to plan. Despite attention-to-detail, hardwork, and immaculate planning, there are things that are essentially out of our control. (i.e. natural disasters, accidents, death). With life being unexpected in nature, life-savers buffer themselves from unforeseen financial blows by always accounting for them in their planning. They keep emergency funds, insurance contacts, and liquid financial reserves updated and readily available. 

Life-Savers worry about their names, not brand names. 

 Your reputation and history for repaying loans and handling debt is crucial when you are seeking to establish a solid financial identity, especially in the eyes of loaning agencies. Your credit score, the numerical indicator of your creditworthiness, dictates your level of success in applying for loans, securing investors, or even purchasing a cellphone. 

As a result, life-savers pay close attention to what they sign their names to. They understand that in agreeing to the terms of a loan, a new account, or credit card that they are ultimately responsible for managing payments. This is particularly why life-savers are averse to co-signing loans, agreeing to open accounts in "my mama name", and establishing joint checking and savings accounts even with the closest of loved ones. 

Wow, You're a Life-Saver! Part I

Be a Life-Saver!
Talks of an imminent recession, massive layoffs, surges in the prices of wheat, housing and mortgage slumps, and an increasingly impotent dollar are causing widespread concern for the financial future of the average American. Now, is as good a time any to discuss the importance of being a saver for life or "lifesaver." In the next two columns, we will explore revolutionary, yet seemingly trivial tools and ways of thinking that keep lifesavers more adept at absorbing the impact of external threats to their financial peace of mind and purchasing power.
Below are five basic tools that lifesavers use to defend themselves against corporate agenda, piracy,and peddling.

Life-Savers Carry Calculators
Keeping a calculator handy, whether the one on your cellphone, in your purse, or in between your ears, saves you from succumbing to alluring discount offers and seductive sales pitches. Once you realize that 20% off of $200 is actually $60 more than the $100 that you wanted to initially spend, you'll be more discerning and wary of department store bargains and holiday sales.

Using a calculator while shopping also helps you to discern when there in fact is a bargain, even though it is not so apparent. For example, last week I went to a buy hair conditioner. The four-ounce bottle cost $10, while the eight-ounce bottle cost $15. My initial thought was to buy the four-ounce bottle, but a quick calculation made me see that it would be in my best interest to buy the larger bottle now and save myself $5, in addition to transportation or other non-related costs that would accompany the purchase of another four-ounce bottle at a later date.


Life-Savers Carry Pen and Notepad
The necessity of pen and notepad as tools of proactive saving often go overlooked. Not only should you use these tools to create lists of items and estimated prices before you leave the house, you should also use this list to guage the completion of a task. More importantly, carrying pen and notepad allows you to jot down better prices, patterns in your spending, lucrative opportunities, and financial tips in one place.

Keeping all of this data in one location proves key. Over a period of time, these financial journals illuminate financial priorities (or lack thereof), business ideas, and serve as reference for invaluable human and capital resources.

Life-Savers Carry Business Cards
Those that commit to a life-saving lifestyle are prepared to absorb the financial shock of life's unexpected events because of their long-term money mindset. Equally important, they prepare for financial opportunity in the present. That is, their proclivity for planning and practicality also allows them to take advantage of opportunities to network and embark on money-saving or money-making ventures when least expected. To this end, they keep updated business cards on their person at all times. This facilitates the broadening of their social base and projects to those with whom they encounter a level of business savvy and creative maturity.

Life-Savers Carry Big Bills
The largest denomination of money in this country are $50 and $100 bills. Generally speaking, consumers usually reserve them for large purchases such as electronics, furniture, and or appliances. Conversely, consumers reluctantly use big bills to buy packs of gum, magazines, or quick bites to eat when they have no change. Life-savers understand that carrying big bills, like $50, make them less prone to frittering way their money on small purchases. With big bills, they are more easily able to monitor when bills are broken and when change is made. (Think: It's easier to keep track and more painful to spend four $50 bills than ten $20 bills or twenty $10 bills.)

Life-Savers Carry Chips on Their Shoulders
Most people go shopping with an aim to spend money. That is, they do not need much persuasion to spend money because in fact, they want to spend. They consider malls, salespersons, and outlets inviting, nonthreating, and without motive. On the other hand, a life-savers money mindset is the exact opposite. They enter commercial areas playing financial defense. They understand stores, shops, and others of commerce to be deliberate, purposeful, and predatory to their future financial security. As a result, they need proof, reason, and rationale as to why they should spend their money because their principal financial aim is to keep it.

"Mind Your Own Business": Teaching Financial Literacy and Entrepreneurship to Our Children

Gimme Yo' Lunch Money

 I found it when I was nine. Farrah Gray, author of Reallionaire and Get Real, Get Rich found it when he was seven;  my third grade students found it last year.

The relationship between good financial hygiene and the pursuit of endless possibility. 

In fourth grade, I rented out my erasable pens for $0.25 each as the class transitioned from writing in pencil and in print to writing in script and in pen. By the time I was eleven, I had moved on to peddling posters from Right On magazine for $0.50 and $1.00, for small pictures and pull-out pictures of the then-hottest celebrities, respectively. Farrah Gray, the African-American mogul that become a millionaire by the age of fourteen, started selling home-made lotions door-to-door in the projects of Chicago's Southside. Last year, each of my third-grade students received a piggy-bank, which I expressly remarked was exclusively for contributing to their college funds. 

Awakening Their Financial Genius  

This proclivity for financial awareness and understanding of the benefits of entrepreneurship are direct indicators of financial literacy. Expert accounts of American households with average amounts of credit card debt as high as $9,000 in 2007, increases in the rental of shortage units, and the surge in the interest and number of housekeeping reality shows, however, point to the glaring levels of financial illiteracy throughout this country. 

Despite the severity of  this widespread and ever-deepening social problem,  mandatory financial curricula continue to be absent from most primary and secondary schools' core educational priorities. This means that teaching our children about money, entrepreneurship, and healthy spending habits has to begin at home:

1.   Watch television and flip through magazines with them to analyze the role that commercials and advertisements play to encourage 'group-think' and mass consumption.  Children and young adults in tune with much of pop culture turn a blind eye to the reasons why they buy certain labels at certain times.  They honestly believe that they purchase them  from their own volition. If at this stage in their development they profess their individuality and autonomy, why then, do many strive to look, dress, smell, and posture in identical manners to their peers? The manner in which they conform, that is-- what they consider worthy of buying, wearing, drinking, saying, and driving --comes from social cues orchestrated and controlled by seemingly innocuous suggestions and subliminal reminders of what should constitute their external identity and internal values. 

2.  Identify symptoms of  impulse buying and implement strategies to thwart its influence.

Many of us, including children and young adults, experience an increase in heart-rate, sweaty hands, and a trance-like state when we are overcome to buy on impulse. While it is important to acknowledge the sensation, it is of greater importance to implement impulse-related rules of engagement to spare your future of financial difficulties: Walk directly out of the store and to your car. Repeat your favorite money mantra.  Keep all ATM cards and credit cards in house before you leave the house. Give yourself a 48-hour rule: If there is a purchase over $20 that you want to make, think about for 48 hours. Once you have given physical and mental distance between you and the item, your impulse to buy would have waned or completely died all together. 

3. Educate them. 

For lower-elementary school students (K-2), books like It's a Habit, Sammy Rabbit celebrates a rabbit that saves its carrots and fosters early savings habits, while books like All For the Better follows  how a Puerto Rican family in El Barrio consistently saves money to support their extended family in Puerto Rico during the Great Depression is more appropriate for upper-elementary school students, (3-5). Similarly, The Center for Black Business History, Entrepreneurship, and Technology provides information on the four century tradition of black business activities from slavery to freedom in the United States for more advanced readers. 

4. Set financial goals and expectations for them. 

 Open a saving accounts with them and have them make bi-monthly contributions. Insist that they pay in full or in-part bills (i.e. cell phone, nails, entertainment, shopping). This instills a sense of responsibility. Having them play an active role in their financial lives will also streamline their priorities and understanding between a "want" and a "need" once they will not be getting it free. If you allot an allowance, maintain strict rules that restrict advances, discourage borrowing, and create  incentives to save. (i.e. providing matching funds)

5. Encourage an entrepreneurial spirit. 

 Our children possess an array of intellectual, artistic, political, and cultural  talents, passions, and interests. Allow these predilections to become  potential sources of income. If your child the teacher's pet? Let invaluable skills such as excellent reading, strong organizational skills,  reliability, and congeniality be the beginnings of an educational enterprise for her/him. Is your child particularly athletic, fashionable, handy? Allow him/her to train, design, and fix for a fee around the neighborhood.

It Takes a Village to Raise a Mogul

There are several programs available to elementary, middle, and high school students interested in learning about microenterprises, the workings of start-up companies, and the nuances of self-employment. Below are programs, agencies, and organizations that equip our youth with key entrepreneurial skills and opportunities to secure funding for their enterprises.

These opportunities make a great complement the financial instruction that you do at home.The resources listed below are by no mean exhaustive. 

• National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) teaches high school students how to start and run a small business. Students have the opportunity to gain work-based experiences, develop leadership skills, and boost their self-esteem.
  
• Junior Achievement focuses on preparing American youth for the demands of a global economy. Through age-appropriate curricula, activities, and training, students of all ages learn about the market economy, work-readiness, entrepreneurship, and money-management.  
• Black Enterprises Kidpreneur/Teenpreneur Conference targets African-American youth, ages 7-17 for workshops that range from increasing interest in business and creating business plans to managing and establishing microenterprises. 
• Students in Free Enterprise is an international organizations that grooms college-level students for socially responsible entrepreneurial endeavors. They provide credit-card counseling, free enterprise project implementation, and professional mentorship. 
  
• U.S. Small Business Administration Teen Business Link provides a slew of links and resources to mentoring programs, academic scholarships, and internship opportunities. 

Please post any comments or questions on http://girlgetyourlifetogether.blogspot.com

Which Came First? The Bible or the Nest Egg? Using the Bible as Financial Blueprint

Which Came First? The Bible or the Nest Egg? 

Who and what do we consult for financial advice? Michelle Singletary? Yes. CNN? Yep! David Bach? Ok. The Wall Street Journal? Sure. Farrah Gray? Why Not! The Bible? ---What?

Yes, the Bible.

Using the Bible as Financial Blueprint

For Christians and members of other religious and spiritual faiths, the Bible is chiefly viewed as a moral and religious text. As result, Christians overlook its financial dimension, while members of other faiths including (agnostics and atheists) resist probing its contents all together because of mutually exclusive understandings of the spiritual way of the world. This narrow categorization cheats Christians, members of other faiths, and adherents to the "scientific method" of the non-religious and practical financial lessons that the Bible has to offer, which pre-date and parallel the conventional wisdom of some of The New York Times best-selling financial coaches. Below are 4 key scripture verses that, like our most followed financial gurus, voice the importance of budgeting, avoiding debt, thinking for yourself, and goal setting. 

Money Principle #1 Create a budget and stick to it!

Bible Verse: St. Luke 14:28-29 "For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him."

Money Principle #2: Focus on Yourself, Not the Joneses

Bible Verse: Galatians 3:4-5 "But let every man prove his own work and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man has his own burden to bear." 

Money Principle#3 Pay Off Debt in a Timely Manner/Avoid Predatory Lending

Bible Verse: Deuteronomy 15:1-2 "At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother..."

Money Principle # 4 Be persistent and follow through to reap the benefits of hardwork. 

Bible Verse: Proverbs 12:11 "He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread; but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding."

Any comments, please send to adjowa2001@yahoo.com

FUQs : Frequently Unasked Questions on Money and Finance

Nod and Smile
Scenario #1
Your best friend says that she is the personification Sonia Sanchez, Amiri Baraka, a helping of Lucky Dube and a hint of Erkyah Badu and Public Enemy rolled into one. One night, she invites you to bear witness to her lyrical prowess. Her art. Her craft. At a local poetry cafe. By the middle of the third poem, you realize that her poetry is not only contrived, but also uninspiring. But when she leaves the stage (exit stage left) and returns to her seat and asks the faithful question, "Girl, what did you think? How was it?"  You are tempted to ask her how many credits shy she is from completing her degree in Accounting, but instead, you muster a,  "Girl, you know how you do!" and seal it with a nod and (big)smile.

Scenario #2
Your sister-in-law invites you to a financial literacy seminar. At the seminar, the speaker speaks quickly, but nonetheless, eloquently about the current market forecasts, inflation, the climate of the housing market, and predictions on the future of US economic development. There is a wealth of knowledge, but not easily digested in one setting because the content is dense. Cognizant of this, the gracious speaker opens the floor for dialogue. Hands go up, all except yours. You think your question is too simplistic to ask. So, instead of posing your question, you posture with a nod and smile. For effect, you may throw in, " She was so amazing!" to a random registrant as the crowd files toward the exit. 

Why We Don't Ask and Answer Questions
We often do it to avoid confrontation. We also do it when we are scared to voice uncertainity, confusion, and express a need for help. Yes, our pride, beautiful and brazen, when not tempered gets in the way of us being our most evolved and informed selves. The crippling agent, fear, coupled with insidious societal need for conformity and latent need for acceptance dwarfs the rate at which we take risks, go against the crowd, and stand alone.
When it comes to elevating our financial acumen, we have to ask questions. And the more basic, the better. A solid financial foundation that is built on the mastery of seemingly trivial, rudimentary concepts and facts will allow you to easily incorporate the more complex, complicated ideas into your fiscal schema.

FUQs: 5 Frequently Unasked Questions on  Finance and Economics

Q. What type of economy does the United States have?
A: Technically, the United States is said to have a mixed economy because both privately owned businesses and government both play key roles in its growth. It, however, moves and acts like a free market or market economy. A market economy is characterized by an emphasis on private ownership, not government ownership. In fact, private business produces and distributes the majority of goods and services in the country. What also makes the American economy free-market in nature is its belief in the power of supply and demand to determine the prices of goods and services.  The prices of goods and services, in turn,  inform  businesses what should and should not be produced, making way for the entrance of businesses "competitive enough" to produce  and the exit of businesses unable to compete in the free enterprise system. 

Q: What is the Federal Reserve? Why is it so important?
A: The Federal Reserve System is the central banking system of the United States. The Federal Reserve, as a central banking entity, is responsible for the country's monetary policies and decisions, which include monitoring, managing, and controlling the supply of money and trading it in the foreign exchange markets.  The former Chairman of the Federal Reserve was Alan Greenspan. The current Chairman of the Federal Reserve is Ben Bernanke. 

Q: What is difference between and stock and mutual fund?

A: A stock (also known as an equity or a share) is a portion of the ownership of one corporation or business entity. When you buy stock in a company, you have the right to a portion of the company's earnings and are subject to  mitigating its losses. Mutual funds, on the other hand, are companies that have fund managers that are responsible for investing a group of investors' pooled money toward a predetermined investment goal. Mutual funds provide diversity because it allows for investment in a number of investment tools (i.e. stocks, bonds) and allow the investors to have ownership in several companies. 

Q: What is an IRA? What is the difference between a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA?
A: IRA stands for "individual retirement account." A traditional IRA is an account which allows individuals to make investments with tax-deductible contributions. This money can be invested in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, or other investment vehicles and grow tax-free until the person is 59 1/2 years old. Penalties are imposed for withdrawals made before this time. After 59 1/2, account owners are permitted to make withdrawals, but must make withdrawals by 70 1/2 years old. The withdrawals will be taxed at your current tax rate. 

On the other hand,  contributions to the Roth-IRA are made with after-tax dollars. They also are not deductible on your tax returns. Since you have paid tax on your money upfront, withdrawals from the Roth IRA will be tax-free. Additionally, unlike traditional IRAs,there is no distribution requirement (i.e. withdrawals) and  individuals can make contributions to their IRA after they are 70 1/2 years old. 

Both impose annual contributions limits. If you are 49 years old or younger, you can contribute a maximum of $5,000 in 2008. If you are 50 years old or older, the ceiling is $6,000 for the year.  

Q: What is a "rule of thumb" in terms of creating a budget?

A: There are different ways to allocate money for a budget; The most basic I have come across is  the "50/30/20" budget. Fifty percent of your income goes to "must-haves" (i.e. food, shelter, education, transportation), thirty percent goes to "wants" (i.e. clothes, travel, entertainment), and twenty-percent goes to savings. (i.e. retirement, emergency fund, college fund)

"Be Careful of the Education You Keep": Lessons from Carter G. Woodson

Black History is Not Only about Lives, It's About Lessons

During Black History month, we focus our collective energy on celebrating, honoring, and paying homage and respect to the accomplishments, struggles, and lives of black leaders, fighters, and survivors that challenged, revolutionized, and confronted America's oppressive, color-based system of disenfranchisement and white supremacy. 

What we must realize, however, is  that the power of Black History is not limited to the glorification of a few figures or the chronology of particular events or movements. The power of our history, rather, like the Ghanaian adinkra symbol, "sanfoka", a bird flying forward while looking backwards, illuminates the interconnectivity of the past to the present. The past has the  ability to continually influence, impact, and shape our present without our cognition. Conversely, when we actively access the past through oral history and research, we consciously rebirth the past and bridge the former and present dimensions.  That is, it is in the lessons channeled through the lives of the past and not just the lives, in and of themselves, that provide blueprints for how we as a people can overcome, improve, and succeed. 

As we approach the end of Black History month, it is fitting and imperative, then,  that we focus our attention on the bequeathed advice, warnings, and philosophies that Carter Goodwin Woodson, father of Black History month left, especially as it relates to our psycho-fiscal liberation and advancement. 

Be Careful of the Education that You Keep

"The mere imparting of information is not education." Woodson wrote this statement in the preface to his 1933 publication The Miseducation of the Negro to warn the newly liberated class of Africans of the dangers and futility of seeking social acceptance and financial wealth through the acquisition of European-centered education and values. During the post-Emancipation Era, blacks had unprecedented access to formal education at white institutions and white-replicated black institutions and ultimately found themselves in unchartered territory as it relates to constructing, forging, and solidifying divergent financial identities, occupational paths, and earning potentials independent of agriculture, sharecropping, and manual labor. 

With the introduction of  "formal education" as a tool toward socio-economic mobility, there simultaneously emerged a stratified and binary oppositioning of that which was associated with the black, land-bound, agrarian class and the white, institutional, elitist strata. The growing population of what Woodson termed the "highly educated Negro" blanketly embraced that which was  considered "white" and demonized that which was considered "black", thus elevating mind over body, institution over land, and convention over tradition. 

And often to their (our) financial and psychological detriment...

Did You Hear the One about the White Professor, the Negro Intellectual, and the Laundromat?

 The American educational system trained blacks to serve the economic interests of the white power class and implicitly, to work against, ignore, and sabotage the financial well-being of the black financial standing. For a people that were captured, enslaved, and indebted to servitude because of their superior and advanced understanding of land, nature, and agriculture and hired out as skilled laborers in woodwork, masonry, and domestic arenas  throughout the pre and post-Emancipation periods, embarking on entrepreneurial endeavors that exploited these gifts and strengths would make perfect financial sense. Woodson found, however, that "highly educated Negroes" leaving schools of business administration despised and  passed up the opportunities to generate wealth through "runn[ing] ice wagons, push[ing] banana carts, and sell[ing] peanuts among their own people" because they were trained exclusively in the psychology and economics of Wall Street, and not the financial dimension, structure, or nuance of the black financial belt. (Woodson, 1933)

This gapping hole in financial business sense and community pride afforded white ruling class to not only maintain, but exacerbate the disparity in wealth between these groups. Woodson drives this point when he recounts the distinct responses of a white professor and black instructor to being invited to run a laundry service for  blacks. The former resigned his position at a university and became rich. The latter considered the suggestion an insult to his intelligence and position and did not become rich. 

Re-educate to Elevate

Woodson wrote this call to consciousness for middle class black America seventy-five years ago. Its message, nonetheless, remains appropriate and timeless. Vanity and the desire for social acceptance continue to thwart our entrepreneurial spirit, creativity, and happiness:

• How many times have we allowed the promise of  title or prestige keep us from maximizing our financial potential? (i.e. Is making $1,000 in eight hours by  selling water on Eastern Parkway during the Labor Day Parade beneath you because you have a BA in Psychology, Anthropology, or Criminology?)
• How many of us only harness our entrepreneurial spirit during times of unemployment or underemployment and disengage it once we secure a job?
• How many of our family members view our decision to work for ourselves with disdain and scorn?
• How many of us place more value on working for a large corporation or firm than working for ourselves?

Each Man is a Revolution Onto Himself

Self-awareness, confidence, and the ability to problem-solve are indicators of quality, true, and pure education. As a people, we have the benefit of the oral and written traditions of well-known scholars and lesser known everyday heroes to guide, coach, and support us through our journeys.  This means that the process of re-education is possible, probable, and without pretense or mystery, thus allowing each man to be a personal revolution onto himself and his community. 

List of Works Cited 

Woodson, C. (1933) The Mis-Education of the Negro. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, Inc. 

Single and Saving in the City

They say "love don't cost a thing", but we all know that dating sure does. Keeping an active social life while guarding your long-term financial goals such as property ownership, zero debt, advanced study, and a secure retirement don't have to be mutually exclusive. Incorporate a couple of these "single and saving in the city" tricks to balance the need to live life fully in the present with the reality that poor financial planning now creates an unlivable future.

1.Plan as many dates as you can around your next hair appointment. It costs a lot of money to take care of our hair and when we are dating we are more likely to splurge on a few extra appointments so we are looking our best. If you are currently seeing more than one person, schedule your hair appointments first and then the date, not the other way around!
2.Wash and wear. Keep that outfit that makes you feel the sexiest and most confident in heavy rotation. There is no need to continually buy new clothes when you are in market for a beau. The benefit of rewearing an outfit is that you already know how it hugs and hides, accentuates and flatters. Besides, it's new to them if they have never seen it. Keeping tabs, however, on what was worn and with whom is key to optimizing this strategy!
3.Kill two birds with one stone. Plan two first dates on the same day. A brunch and an early dinner, perhaps. These locations should be close enough as not to cost you more in the way of transportation, yet distant enough to maintain discretion. These dates should also be similar in price and nature to spare you unexpected ATM visits (and fees) and a wardrobe change. With the two-three hour cushion that you leave between dates, you will have enough to time to balance your checkbook, run errands, catch-up on your reading, or even schedule your next hair appointment!